The present invention relates generally to a manipulating and writing apparatus and specifically to a manipulating and writing apparatus held in the mouth and useful to physically challenged individuals with limited or no use of their hands and arms. The apparatus of this invention is designed to give paralytics and other physically challenged individuals the freedom to write, paint, read, type, turn lights on and off, use the television or stereo and manipulate other normal everyday activities.
The use of mouth-held devices, designed to assist the physically challenged in the manipulation of tasks typically done by the hands, is known in the art. More specifically, prior devices of this type basically consist of wooden or plastic sticks held directly by the user's teeth, as well as sticks integrally connected to mouthpieces held within the user's mouth. Similar devices may be found within the December 1958 issue of The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (pages 23-25) and The Maddak, Inc (Ableware.RTM.) Catalog 1294, 1995 (page 28).
Traditionally, mouthpieces individually fit the user's tooth pattern for devices which incorporate mouthpieces. This mouthpiece, formed with indentations on its surface to accommodate the user's teeth, has often caused dental problems such as lockjaw and loosened teeth. An additional disadvantage of the traditional mouthpiece is that once the mouthpiece is worn, the entire device has to be discarded since the traditional mouthpiece is not detachable from the stick portion of the device. This inability to detach the worn mouthpiece from the remaining parts of the otherwise good conditioned device results in increased replacement costs.
Further, prior mouth-held devices incorporate various, familiar rubber-tipped ends for manipulating tasks like typing, turning on/off the electrical switch and other similar activities. Most prior devices of this type do not utilize an interchangeable end, whereby one end can be inserted for manipulating hand-related tasks or the other end can be inserted for writing and drawing.
Finally, another conventional device employs a motor for telescopically extending non-fixed length sticks to adapt to different tasks. Typically, these motorized, telescopic sticks include a motor, batteries, a battery chamber and contacts engaging the batteries. Not only is the cost of the device increased due to this multiplicity of components, but the maintenance and replacement costs are also increased because disassembly for cleaning and sterilization are virtually impossible. This device is also very heavy and can cause severe jaw fatigue.
Examples of traditional paralytic devices, incorporating one or more of the above characteristics, are disclosed with the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,828,418 entitled "Mouth-Held Device" which issued to Sauer et al. on May 9, 1989; 3,795,281 entitled "Telescopic Stick for Paralytics" which issued to Cloran on Mar. 5, 1974; and 3,653,775 entitled "Instruments to Supplement and Take the Place of Hands" which issued to Ross on Apr. 4, 1972. All of these patents are incorporated by reference herein.